London Otter defend Girls' U17 title

London Otter trashed City of Manchester’s hopes of a clean sweep as they successfully defended their U17 Girls title in a thrilling final at the ASA National Age Group Water Polo Championship finals in Manchester.

With the score changing hands throughout the final two quarters, the London side ultimately came out on top 9-7 to secure the second ASA Girls’ U17 title in their history.

“Nobody expected us to win so we’re utterly delighted,” said Otter captain Sasha Tinkler-Davies. “The team played so well – I’m so proud of them – and it’s a really happy feeling.

“We lost to Manchester by quite a few goals in the qualifiers so we didn’t expect anything near this. We came into the game determined to try our best and see what happened and we’ve won.”

Both teams started strong, with one goal a-piece scored within minutes of match starting. City of Manchester scored another in the first quarter, but both goalies showed their worth as the score remained 2-1 until halfway through the second quarter.

The Otter team settled into the match in the third quarter, which started 4-2 to Manchester.

Dani Brazier scored two goals to take her Championships tally to 31, Poppy Mayall brought Otter level with an outside shot into the corner and Lily Turner also scored her second goal of the match, taking Otter to 6-4 up against Manchester as they headed into the final quarter.

Championships top scorer Anya Clapperton, who had already scored in the first quarter, pulled out a hat-trick for Manchester in the final quarter to take her side into the lead (7-6).

But London Otter refused to be deterred and goals from Heather Keith (2) and Emma Gillie won them the match.

London Otter’s Dani Brazier was awarded U17 Girls Most Valued Player (MVP) Award by the England Talent Team.

Liverpool see off Exeter to win bronze

The bronze medal match between Exeter and Liverpool seemed set from the start.

Liverpool finished the first quarter 4-0 up thanks to Molly Boniface-Ashton’s quadruple.

Exeter’s Robyn Greenslade managed to slip one in during the second quarter to bring the score to 4-1 at half-time, but Liverpool hit back with three in the third quarter.

Liverpool emerged bronze medallists, despite a last quarter goal by Exeter, with the final score 7-2.

Girls U17 Finals

U17 Girls Semi Finals
City of Manchester12 – 4ExeterFT
City of Liverpool7 – 13OtterFT
U17 Girls Bronze Medal Match
Exeter2 – 7City of LiverpoolFT
U17 Girls Final
City of Manchester7 – 9OtterFT
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